Earlier today in Los Angeles, a JAMS arbitrator denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed by Independent Sports and Entertainment (ISE) against their former employee, Dan Fegan. The ruling is a small victory for Fegan during his highly publicized legal battle with ISE.

Fegan commented on the ruling stating “I am obviously pleased with the arbitrator’s ruling and glad to put the threat of the preliminary injunction behind me. This allows me to focus all of my energy on representing current and future clients. As I’ve said all along, ISE’s claims against me are outrageous and filled with false and malicious allegations. This ruling is the start of my proving just that in and out of court.”

An ISE spokesperson also commented on today’s ruling stating “Dan Fegan’s suggestion that he is now ‘free to compete’ with ISE is nonsense, as is his suggestion that he ‘won’ anything on the merits. On the contrary, the arbitrator expressly said that he had ‘serious questions’ about Mr. Fegan’s conduct and held that ISE’s non-compete agreement is fully enforceable and that ISE can recover damages for any breach of that agreement by Mr. Fegan. Regardless of any injunction, any action Mr. Fegan takes in breach of ISE’s agreement he takes at his own risk and at the risk of anyone who interferes with ISE’s contractual rights. Mr. Fegan’s bluster and smear tactics will not change these simple facts, and ISE will vigorously enforce its rights against Mr. Fegan in the upcoming arbitration proceeding and will seek all damages caused by Mr. Fegan’s outrageous behavior toward ISE and the agents that were under his supervision.”

Despite that statement, it appears Fegan can compete against his former agency.. for now. There is no doubt that this is just the beginning in what appears to be a long and cutthroat legal dispute between ISE and Fegan.